Talking in Pictures

A blog about visual communication

ScreenSteps Desktop 2.7 Now Available! Download ScreenSteps 2.7

Archive for December, 2008

Spaces in ScreenSteps Live

The new version of ScreenSteps Live introduces an exciting new feature – Spaces. Spaces are mini websites contains ScreenSteps lessons that are targeted at a specific audience. And you can use the ScreenSteps Live API to deliver that content via your WordPress blog, CMS, web app or desktop application. Watch the video below to learn what spaces are and to see some interesting ways we are using the ScreenSteps Live API in our own products.


ScreenSteps Live Spaces Overview from Greg DeVore on Vimeo.

You can sign-up for a free 45-day trial of ScreenSteps Live at www.screenstepslive.com – no credit card required!

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ScreenSteps 2.5 New Features Video

Watch the video below for a quick overview of the new features available in the ScreenSteps 2.5 public beta.

Highlights:

  1. Text annotation tool
  2. Annotation layering
  3. Easier re-ordering of steps
  4. Lesson status settings
  5. Single click uploading/downloading of manuals to ScreenSteps Live
  6. Syncing of manual contents between your desktop and ScreenSteps Live


What’s New in ScreenSteps 2.5 from Greg DeVore on Vimeo.

Version 2.5 will be a free update for customers with a valid 2.x license.

Download for OS X

Download for Windows

Check out the 2.5 beta release announcement for more information.

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ScreenSteps 2.5 Beta Released

I’m happy to announce that we have posted the first ScreenSteps 2.5 beta! We have been working on this release for a long time and hope that everyone will find something in it that will help them document more quickly and efficiently.

The primary focus in version 2.5 was integration with our new and improved ScreenSteps Live service. In order to take advantage of the great new features in ScreenSteps Live, uploading and updating of content between ScreenSteps and ScreenSteps Live is better than ever. This integration combined with the new lesson status tracking feature and the ability to hide manual chapters (formerly manual sections) that are not yet ready for publishing will make working on documentation in groups much easier.

In this release you will also find the often requested text annotation tool. We’ve also made dramatic speed improvements when dealing with large libraries and lessons can now display an unlimited number of steps.

We’ve posted a ScreenSteps 2.5 manual on our ScreenSteps Live account. To create this manual we duplicated the 2.1 manual in ScreenSteps, renamed it and uploaded the new manual directly to ScreenSteps Live. This week we will go through the manual updating screenshots where necessary and adding new lessons to cover new features. As we make these changes we will be able to instantly publish them to our ScreenSteps Live account where they are instantly available. Pretty cool.

There are more features, enhancements and bug fixes so be sure to check out the What’s New in ScreenSteps 2.5? lesson and take some time to read the release notes.

Version 2.5 will be a free update for customers with a valid 2.x license.

Download for OS X

Download for Windows

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ScreenSteps 2.5 Beta Coming Next Week

We had announced in an email that the ScreenSteps 2.5 Beta would be available on Friday. There were a couple of things we needed to tidy up that we didn’t get done so look for the download to be available early next week (hopefully Monday).

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Major Updates Coming to ScreenSteps Live this Week

After many months of work, we are extremely excited to announce a major update to the ScreenSteps Live service. You are receiving this email because you have either created an account on ScreenSteps Live or have subscribed to our mailing list.

If you fall into either of the two groups below, the updates to ScreenSteps Live are going to make your life much easier: You need an efficient way of sharing your ScreenSteps Live source content amongst a team of authors. You need a streamlined, “no IT guy required”, method of publishing, distributing and controlling access to your lessons. What is so exciting about this update?

Faster Than Ever

Instantly publish entire manuals to ScreenSteps Live.

Easier to Work as a Team

Automatically download revisions from ScreenSteps Live into ScreenSteps Desktop and then publish those changes for other team members. ScreenSteps Live can become the central hub for your documentation source material.

Simpler Distribution/Permissions

Distribution and permissions have been greatly simplified making it even easier to deliver the right content to the right audience.

Read below for more detailed information.

What is New on ScreenSteps Live?

In short, just about everything, but here is a more detailed list:

  • Publish complete manuals to ScreenSteps Live with one click from ScreenSteps Desktop.
  • Download lesson packages and complete manuals from ScreenSteps Live right from within the ScreenSteps Desktop software.
  • Sync manual contents between your desktop and ScreenSteps Live, making it much easier to work on manuals as a team.
  • Simplified permissions. With this update we are introducing a new “Spaces” feature. You control who has access to a space on your account. You can then drop your lessons or manuals into that space. You no longer have to control viewing permissions on a per lesson basis.
  • Improved commenting system.
  • Easier editing of online manuals with support for Internet Explorer 6/7, Firefox and Safari.
  • Simplified custom templates.
  • Unlimited Reader accounts for all plans.

What is Going to Change?

Your customers will no longer be able to view your Manuals, Lessons and Tags tabs. This area will only be for Admin and Author users you create on your account.

Your customers will only be able to view lessons and manuals that are assigned to a space. As we migrate your account a couple of things will happen automatically:

  • If you have public lessons or manuals they will be placed in a new, publicly accessible space.
  • If you have private lessons or manuals they will be placed in a protected space. Any readers you have assigned to those manuals will be given access to that space.

Of course you will be able to configure this however you want, but this initial setup will help make the transition as smooth as possible. Any existing urls will automatically be redirected to their new location after the update.

What is Going Away?

If you have been using your ScreenSteps Live account to host images for lessons that you were inserting into other web services, you will no longer be able to do so once the update is released.

IMPORTANT: You can still post to your own blog or wiki using the ScreenSteps Desktop software as long is you use one of the supported services (MovableType, Wordpress, TypePad, MindTouch Deki and Confluence). We have added these native export features into the desktop software so that you would not need a ScreenSteps Live account to publish to your blog or wiki.

Changes to ScreenSteps Desktop

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